Reviews

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper

sam99's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Very quick read. Three hours. Short but good

titan3lla's review against another edition

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4.0

Read this one a long time ago, but it eventually pops into my head. That means this is an amazing book. I loved it very much.

urbansapphire's review against another edition

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4.0

Having read Fallen Grace, I went straight back to Amazon to buy another from this excellent YA fiction author.

The story of a simple country girl, Hannah, who is bursting with excitement at the thought of going to visit her sister Sarah who runs a confectionery shop, spending all hours of the day and night making sugared candies & sweetmeats to sell to well-to-do folk who pass her shop 'The Sugared Plum'.

Events conspire to change Hannah's plans and the fearsome plague comes to town. The story of how Hannah and her sister cope with the daily threat of death, coupled with a little bit of romance from the boy down the road, and this is a great little book, which really captures the heart and evokes a real sense of what it was like for people trying to survive in a cruel world, hundreds of years ago.

wirsindgefangene's review against another edition

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4.0

"Die Schwester der Zuckermacherin" entführt uns ins London des Jahres 1665 und vermittelt dabei vor allem für jüngere Leser von zehn bis 14 einen guten Eindruck über das Leben während der Frühen Neuzeit. Man erfährt vor allem viel über die Pest und den Aberglauben der Menschen zu jener Zeit. Ältere Leser, die sich schon mit diesen Themen beschäftigt haben, werden wohl wenig Neues erfahren, aber sicherlich trotzdem ihre Freude an diesem Buch haben. Die eingestreute Liebesgeschichte zwischen der Protagonistin und einem Apothekerlehrling ist süß und ist vor allem für junge Leserinnen ein zusätzliches Highlight.

margaretann84's review against another edition

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3.0

Great, but it just kind of...ended. It's like the author got bored and stopped writing.

nicolamb's review against another edition

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5.0

Beautiful, well-researched novel

3dotsforme's review against another edition

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4.0

An appropriate read for the Covid times. Set in 1665, the year the bubonic plague killed 1/3 of London's population. Complete with quotes by Samuel Pepys at the beginning of each chapter that will resonant with everyone who has watched even five minutes of the news since the corona virus hit.

notw37's review against another edition

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5.0

I have to say I loved this book. I usually read quite gory books and when I stumbled across this and seen it was about the plague I got it.
In fact, it isn't gory at all but I still loved it because it gives a very insightful view into London during this horrible period. Mary hooper also did a lot of research into the period also so the info is quite accurate. Because of this I learned a fair bit about London and what livening in the 17th century would be like.

The author also has some quite likeable characters in this book as well. I have just started reading the sequel to this book 'petals in the ashes' which starts off exactly where this one ends so here's hoping its just as good!

thosedarkpages's review against another edition

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4.0

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum, followed by Petals in the Ashes. Both are beautiful books with plenty of thrills, romance and history to keep you going. Very well researched too.

dils's review against another edition

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3.0

It was a nice quick read. A cute romance taking place between Hannah and Tom. I haven’t read many books set during the plague so it was an interesting one.